1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical buttresses which can be releasably attached to a surgical stapling apparatus, and in particular, to surgical buttresses containing a hemostatic agent that is activated upon firing of the surgical stapling apparatus.
2. Background of Related Art
Surgical stapling instruments are employed by surgeons to sequentially or simultaneously apply one or more rows of fasteners, e.g., staples or two-part fasteners, to body tissue for the purpose of joining segments of body tissue together. Such devices generally include a pair of jaws or finger-like structures between which the body tissue to be joined is placed. When the stapling device is actuated, or “fired”, longitudinally moving firing bars contact staple drive members in one of the jaws. The staple drive members push the surgical staples through the body tissue and into an anvil in the opposite jaw which forms the staples. If tissue is to be removed or separated, a knife blade can be provided in the jaws of the device to cut the tissue between the lines of staples.
When stapling certain tissue, such as lung, esophageal, intestinal, duodenal, and vascular tissues, or relatively thin or fragile tissues, it is important to effectively seal the staple line against air or fluid leakage. Preventing or reducing air or fluid leakage can significantly decrease post operative recovery time. Additionally, it is often necessary to reinforce the staple line against the tissue to prevent tears in the tissue or pulling of the staples through the tissue. One method of preventing tears or pull throughs involves the placement of a biocompatible fabric reinforcing material, or “buttress” material, between the staple and the underlying tissue.
Some buttress materials utilize hemostatic agents to reduce blood leakage. However, in some instances, it would be desirable to provide a buttress material with a protected hemostatic agent that is released upon actuation of the stapler thereby ensuring that the hemostatic agent is directed and targeted to discharge at the surgical wound site thereby enhancing sealing thereat.